May 9/Prepared Foods May 2011 “Hitting the Shelves” --Preliminary data from Beverage Marketing Corp. (BMC) indicate the U.S. beverage market grew 1.2% in 2010. While such growth may seem slim at first glance, it does represent a significant improvement, when considering the past two years had seen back-to-back declines. BMC notes, “Just as the weakened economy hampered beverages’ performance in 2008 and 2009, improved conditions contributed to their rebound.”
In 2010, the volume of total liquid refreshment beverages exceeded 29 billion gallons, with notable surges in ready-to-drink (RTD) tea and coffee, sports drinks and energy beverages. Even segments failing to register growth--carbonated soft drinks (CSD) and fruit beverages--improved, though not enough to reflect positive growth.